The Beginner Slightly-Better-Than-Beginner Transition

First of all, KNOW YOUR GUITAR. There are so many aspects of your guitar to understand.
From top to bottom, here is a list and breakdown of your basic 6-string acoustic guitar.
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GUITAR BREAKDOWN
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1.)The Head - This is at the very top of the guitar. Situated in the head are
the machine-heads. These are the little knobs on either side of
your acoustic's head. (Some guitars have machine-heads on one
side of their head, but this is mainly electric guitars and
basses). The machine-heads are used for tuning your guitar
or lower. You can see how these make the strings tighter as
they
wrap around the small bar in the guitar head. Tighter strings
mean higher pitches and vice versa. At the bottom of the head
is the nut. This is the thick ridge that the strings pass
over. It is used to keep the strings steady and make the
notes clearer.
2.)The Neck - This is quite obvious but the neck is the long part of the
guitar that you hold with one hand and play the frets with.
The main features of the neck are the strings which descend
from the head, and the frets. It is also general knowledge to
know that the strings are in the keys of "EADGBe" respectively.
The 'e' on the end is in lowercase to show that it is the
higher of the two E notes. The frets are those horizontal
ridges that appear every few centimeters along the neck. They
are responsible for changing the pitch of the notes that are
played. As your hand travels lower along the fret-board (the
side of the neck with the frets on it), your notes will ascend.
3.)The Body - The body (on an acoustic) is usually very thick, much thicker
than electrics. The prominent feature of the body is the
sound-hole. This is the reason why acoustics have good sound,
because the sound-hole allows the notes to reverberate around
inside. Below the sound-hole is the bridge. The bridge is yet
ridge. It "collects" the strings at the bottom. You will also
notice the knobs below the bridge. These keep the strings
still and keeps them from falling out when tuning. Also on the
body are the knobs used for tying a guitar strap to, although
they aren't completely necessary (my guitar doesn't have any).
Some acoustic guitars have a small electric system in the body
which allows in to be plugged into an amp.

Congratulations, you have learnt your guitar's features and their uses.
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EQUIPMENT
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The Plectrum (or Pick) - This is a small, thin, plastic object that is
helpful to a player. You hold the pick loosely
between your index finger and thumb and let it slide
over the strings. This is called strumming and it is
fairly easy to learn to do. A pick can also be used
to do arpeggios (covered later).
The Guitar Tuner/Pitch Pipe - When you play your guitar for a while, it will
slowly fall out of tune. When this happens,
you simply activate your tuner and play each
string individually. The guitar tuner hears you
play each note and tells you how to adjust the
strings (by using the machine-heads). You can
also use a pitch pipe to tune your guitar,
although in my opinion they can be difficult
to use for the untrained ear. A pitch pipe
generally has six small tubes to blow into,
each one emitting a different note that
corresponds with the guitar's ideal tone
(EADGBe). As this is to be used by ear, I
don't recommend it to any beginners because if
a string is even slightly off-key then it can
ruin an entire song.
The Strap - Although it technically doesn't count as equipment, it is also a
basic part of the guitar that most musicians are never without.
The strap holds the guitar close to you and doesn't let it fall,
making it easier to play while standing. To apply your strap to
the knobs on the body of the guitar (mentioned above). Although
some guitars dont come with those knobs and you would need to go
to a music store and have them install one. Some guitars have
only one knob on the bottom side of the body. To attatch your
strap in that case, tie a piece of yarn (or shoelace) to the
bottom knob and tie a piece of yarn (or shoelace) to the top of
the guitar neck. Make sure that you tie it ABOVE the nut or else
the yarn will interfere with the strings' sound.

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BASIC CHORDS
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There are 6 basic chords, but many different versions of how to play them. The 6 basic chords are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Very easy to remember.
These are called the Major chords, and they produce a "happy" sound. There are variations to these Major chords. They are called "Minor" chords and they produce a "sad" sound. They are written as Am, Bm, Cm, Dm, Em, Fm, and Gm.
The major chords are played as follows:
There are a few ways to view how to play a chord, including:

C
e| 0 | {The letters on the left represent each string. The letter above,
B| 1 | in this case, 'C', indicates the chord played. The numbers in the
G| 0 | middle show where on the fret-board your fingers play. In this
D| 2 | case ('C'), you put your fingers on the 3rd fret, 2nd fret, leave
A| 3 | the string open (don't touch it), the 1st fret, and finally
E| x | leave the string open. The 'x' means that you DON'T play it}

The easier way to list a chord is to say:
C = x32010
Therefore, here are the basic chords:

Good article. Well formatted, too.
But, ever having the eagle eye for pointing out others' mistakes, I noticed that your B chord fingering is actually a Bm, and your Bm is an F#+ (augmented).
Just a head's up so that new guitarists don't get the wrong chord in their head to start.

ThrashRaptor wrote:
Good article. Well formatted, too.
But, ever having the eagle eye for pointing out others' mistakes, I noticed that your B chord fingering is actually a Bm, and your Bm is an F#+ (augmented).
Just a head's up so that new guitarists don't get the wrong chord in their head to start.